Lot
119

Live Aid Pete Townshend

Live Aid Pete Townshend
A Roger Giffin/Schecter guitar, no serial number, Telecaster style body in black finish with white binding, single cutaway body, maple neck with skunk-stripe routing, twenty-one fret fingerboard with dot inlays, two humbucking pickups, selector switch, two rotary controls, bridge baseplate with six adjustable saddles and white pickguard; and a black leather strap and Fender black rectangular hardshell case with red plush lining -- Owned by Pete Townshend and used during The Who's set at Live Aid, Wembley Stadium, 13 July 1985; accompanied by a signed letter from Pete Townshend concerning the provenance in which he states After heavy pressure from Bob Geldof, The Who agreed to reform for a one-off appearance at Live Aid.... Our set was 20 minutes... I used my Black Schecter Telecaster on the last two numbers... It was a great day and I'm glad I was part of it. I think The Who are one of the few acts who appeared at Live Aid and Live 8 twenty years later and a letter from Alan Rogan also confirming its useage (5)

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Lot essay

In one last push to promote the concert Bob Geldof, together with promoter Harvey Goldsmith, went live on BBC Radio 1, to announce to the world that Live Aid would take place on 13 July, just weeks away. Billed as 'The Global Jukebox', the event would feature two main concerts, that would run more or less simultaneously in the United States and at Wembley Stadium in London. During the same broadcast, Geldof regaled listeners with a list of artists who would definitely be performing on the day. The list was impressive but what listeners didn't know was that a large number of the artists hadn't yet agreed to perform - some of them were yet to be even contacted. Moreover, seconds before the broadcast began, he had been told that his team had just got through to representatives of The Who to discuss their involvement - for Geldof that was enough - he finished his set-list announcement by declaring he'd just been informed that The Who were reforming especially for the concert . On hearing the news both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend separately called Bob's people to find out just what the hell was going on. The reunion of The Who proved to be a major draw for ticket sales, and would eventually be deemed as one of the highlights of the show, by those present.
This is one of Pete Townshend's Schecter guitars used in early 1980s. Schecter started off as after market parts/kit guitar makers in the late 70s and this guitar was put together by the then Surrey based luthier Roger Giffin, using Schecter parts. The guitar bears Giffin's name on the headstock. It is understood that Pete Townshend at one stage had a dozen of Schecter guitars for stage use put together by Giffin: a half a dozen or so of them bearing his name on the headstock as well as another half dozen with a Schecter logo on the headstock.

Cataloguing & details

Provenance

Donated by Pete Townshend

Saleroom Notice

Please note that a party with a financial interest may be bidding on any or all of the lots noted in the catalogue as "PROPERTY SOLD TO BENEFIT THE BAND AID TRUST."

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PROPERTY SOLD TO BENEFIT THE BAND AID TRUST

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Please note, for VAT purposes, this lot is sold by the Band Aid Trust with Christie's acting as agent in arranging the sale on their behalf.